


and there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears

by writtenndust



Series: After the Storm [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-12 02:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writtenndust/pseuds/writtenndust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony returns to the Tower and Pepper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears

**Author's Note:**

> A few people asked me to continue my previous story _"love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears"_ so here is just a little thing that I wrote. I hope it's enjoyed.

Tony found Pepper with her head against his pillow and her eyes trained on the bedroom door. She smiled as he walked in, but she didn’t move or say anything as he slowly and deliberately closed and locked the door behind him. “Little bit presumptuous, don’t you think, Tony?” She smirked, half burying her face in his pillow and he noticed her breathe in deeply. The sight warmed him all the way to his toes because he knew for a fact that it was his pillow, and the idea of her breathing in the scent of his aftershave or his soap or whatever it was she could smell of him, made him weak in the knees.

“I wouldn’t be me.” He quipped and she caught the expression on his face as he stood there in the centre of the room, just watching her. She raised herself up onto her elbow. She furrowed her eyebrows as she watched him; and she let his eyes roll down from her face, across her clavicle, down to the shadow between her breasts almost completely hidden by her favourite of his Def Leppard t-shirts. She smiled slightly as his eyes moved down, over her hand that was rested on her hip and further down to where his shirt ended with a small tear on the seam against her thigh. The corner of his mouth twitched and Pepper could feel her cheeks redden – so she looked away – as his eyes continued down her legs, over the slight bend of her knees and down to her ankles; all the way to her red-painted toenails. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to make sure you’re real.”

Pepper’s eyes shot up to his face and she realized, so suddenly, that his eyes were back on her face, his expression so serious her breath caught in her throat. She swung her legs off the side of the bed and quickly made her way to him, wrapping her small fingers around his wrist and tugged him back toward the bed. “Oh, Tony,” She raised his palm to her lips as she backed up toward the bed. “-you know I’m real.”

“Yeah, I know,” He chuckled. “-but sometimes I just need to check.”

Pepper’s eyes fixed on a patch of carpet off to his left and she pressed her eyes closed as she felt his fingers comb through her hair, the pad of his thumb pressing gently against her temple. “I really thought that you weren’t coming home tonight.”

Tony knew she didn’t mean dropping off Loki with S.H.I.E.L.D. or going out for Shawarma with the team; Pepper wasn’t needy like that. What she meant, was the missile and his one way trip into another dimension. She honestly believed, for the briefest of moments, that she was going to be left with an empty tower and an empty bed and a billion-dollar empire dropped at her feet. And she’d been petrified. 

“You know,” He whispered, pressing his lips to her brow. “When I tried to call you, do you know when that was?”

Pepper looked up into his eyes. “No.”

“I had the missile on my back.” Her mouth opened just a little in surprise. “JARVIS asked if he should call you and for a moment, I hesitated,” He blinked, tucking his large hands under her shirt and pressing his palms to her lower-back, feeling the edge of her knickers with his little fingers. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted that; I didn’t know if you’d want our last conversation to be goodbye, but I did call and a part of me was glad you didn’t answer.”

“Why?” Pepper’s question came out hoarse and he smiled gently, pressing his lips to hers chastely.

“I didn’t want the last thing I said to you, to be goodbye.”

She smiled thoughtfully, reaching down to the bottom of his shirt and pulling it slowly up over his torso. “Is that really what you would have said?” She questioned, waiting for him to raise his arms before she pulled both of his shirts over his head.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“I think,” Pepper smirked, pressing her lips to the edge of his jaw, then to the dip in his throat, then to the edge of the Arc Reactor. “-you’d have said something far more beautiful.” She ran her fingers around the edge of the bright blue light that was keeping him alive; silently thanking it for doing its duty.

“Oh is that so?” She could hear the smirk in his voice as she continued down his torso, kissing the edge of his bruised muscles with delicate caresses and warm lips. She ran her fingers down his arms, and pressed a lingering kiss to the almost black bruise across his side.

Tony hissed when she touched it, but she didn’t stop. “How did you get this?” He knew what she meant; the suit was supposed to lessen any impact on his body. But how was he supposed to tell her that he’d fallen so hard and the Hulk had caught him so suddenly that there wasn’t any way the suit could have lessened the blow?

“Bruce was trying to help.” Was all the explanation he gave and Pepper nodded, tracing the outside of the bruise with her lips before pushing him back onto the bed and pulling his shoes off. His eyes widened. “Is this going where I think its going?” He winked when she looked up at him and Pepper rolled her eyes.

“No, Tony, you’re far too exhausted. Maybe tomorrow when you don’t look like you’re going to collapse.”

He gave her a wounded, puppy-dog look but he knew she wasn’t going to back down, Pepper never did. He wasn’t all that bothered, because she was right. He could feel his eyelids drooping and with every gentle touch from her, he could feel his whole body relaxing to the point where he could drift off to sleep and dream for days. 

He let his eyes close and smiled to himself when he felt her deft fingers at the button to his trousers. “You’re a liar.” He grinned and he could hear Pepper’s faint laugh. 

“Shut up, Tony, you can’t sleep in this.”

“You’re a liar. You want me bad.” He still didn’t open his eyes but he could feel Pepper’s hand against his abdomen as she shook with faint giggles. “You’re going to take advantage of me while my brain’s abandoned me, aren’t you?”

“Be quiet.” She tugged on his trousers, pulling them down and over his feet and he could hear the dull thud of them hitting the floor. There was silence for several moments and he furrowed his brow because he couldn’t feel her fingers against his skin. He cracked one eye open, looking up at her and noticed her staring with a look of mixed disbelief and amusement. “Iron Man boxers, Tony?”

“They’re my lucky boxers.”

Her laughter shook the bed as she dropped herself down next to him, shuffling up close enough to his side that their heads were on one pillow. Tony wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer and subtly attempting to pull her shirt up from where his hand rested at the small of her back. “I’ll change if you don’t behave yourself.” She deadpanned, smacking his chest lightly before resting her palm there; the tips of her fingers tapping at the edge of the Arc Reactor. Tony grinned but stilled his hand.

They stayed that way for a while, each listening to the breathing of the other. Tony kept his eyes closed but didn’t sleep, knowing that Pepper’s eyes were still open and that deep-down, something was still eating at her.

“I’ve gotten so used to sleeping with this light.” He could feel the dull pressure of her fingers against the Arc Reactor. “I don’t know what I would have done if -” Tony hugged her closer and shushed her with a kiss to her brow. Pepper sighed, burying her face in the curve of his neck. She tucked her leg over his, shoving her cold toes underneath his calf and he laughed throatily at the feel of it before grabbing at the blanket and throwing it over them both.

“I think you’re right.”

Pepper looked up at him, realizing JARVIS had wordlessly dimmed the lights and left them in the ethereal glow of his blue guardian. “About what?”

“I think I would have told you that I love you.”

Tony could feel her body tense up beside him but then, with a warm gush of air she released a breath against his throat, pressing her lips to his shoulder. He could feel a warm droplet against his skin and he knew that it was a tear but he didn’t address it. She snuggled in closer again, pressing her whole body against his side and even though her torso was pressed firmly against the large purple-black bruise on his side, the pressure of her there made all of the aches and pains disappear. 

“Tony,” She whispered; the sound of sleep was tugging at her words. “that’s the one thing that you don’t have to say.”

The End.


End file.
